Boomer Takes One

or, How To Help The Home Team

If you’re relaxing and someone goes off on hippies and longhairs, help them out.

The observant baby boomer needs to speak gently, but carry strong convictions for the group.

Seventy nine million are counting on you.

Use a few concrete examples like this:

• Were more boomers in engineering classes with an eye on the moon shot and space exploration?

Or

• more boomers living tuned in, turned on, and dropped out?

-Note: who doesn’t love getting drop-out advice from a PhD?

• Were more boomers dragging guitars, dragging joints, and singing hardship songs about The Man?

Or

• More boomers going to law school with their MBA.

-Note: when your hear about the richest population demographic, be sure they didn’t make all that money selling tie-dye scarves at a Dead show.

• Were more boomers at Woodstock sliding in the mud?

Or

• More boomers in Vietnam at the same time wading in a swamp?

-Note: both numbered around 500K.

The same questions work on the right and left. They spark conversation when things get slow.

Don’t count on changing anyone’s mind, but at least you gave it a shot.

That’s all anyone asks for, a chance.

Now go light a sparkler.